CLIFFORD HALL R.O.I., N.S.
(1904 – 1973)
“Clown”. Etching. Plate size
13 7/8” x 7 ¾” (352 x 197).
No. 5 of an edition of 16.
Signed and numbered in pencil. IMAGE
Clifford Hall was a painter in oil and watercolour, draughtsman
and etcher. He was born in Wandsworth on 24th
January 1904. He began studying at Richmond Art School under Charles Wheeler, and
later attended Putney Art School under Stanley
Anderson. In 1926, he began a two year
period at the Royal Academy Schools (Landseer Scholarship) working under the
influence of Charles Sims and Walter Sickert.
He also studied in Paris with Andre Lhote and in
1928 he shared a studio with Edwin John (son of Augustus), who introduced him
to the artists and cafes of Montparnasse. Back in England in the 1930s, Hall staged
two one man exhibitions, one at the Beaux Art Gallery c.1935.
At the beginning of the War in 1939, Hall joined the stretcher
party located near Lots Road, and some of the sketches he
produced in this time are now in the Imperial War Museum. After the war, Hall held
several one man exhibitions including a number at Roland, Browse and Delbanco,
the first of which was in 1946. He also
had a solo show at the Leicester Galleries in 1952 as well as exhibiting at
Anthony d’Offay Gallery, the New English Art Club, the Royal Academy, the
Redfern Gallery, Goupil Gallery, the Pastel Society, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the
National Society, the Royal Society of British Artists, the London Group, the
Paris Salon and the National Gallery.
His monograph on Constantin Guys was published. Hall recorded his life as a bohemian artist
in Chelsea in an unpublished diary covering 50 years from the 1920s. In the late 1960s he started a new series of
paintings of women with unseen faces
wrapped in towels.
Work by Clifford Hall is in the Imperial War Museum, Victoria and
Albert Museum, the Arts Council, the
Contemporary Art Society, Brooklyn Museum U.S.A., the National Gallery of
Wales, Museums and Galleries in Birmingham, Darlington, Altrincham, Melbourne (Felton bequest), Sydney, the National Gallery of
New South Wales and Belfast. His
work has been reproduced in the “Studio” and “Apollo” magazines. A memorial exhibition was held at Belgrave
Gallery in 1977 followed by a studio sale at Christie’s in 1982. Hall married Ann Hewson, one of his students from Regent Street Polytechnic
School of Art. They lived in London.
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